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Installing for my sister, 32 panel array 455w per panel, Sinclair Sky Rack ground mount. The posts are made to be driven about 7 feet into the ground, but not where we live. Backhoe and concrete is our solution. Recommended 24"x60" concrete footing per post, if you can auger that size of a...

I put this system in June 2019, my first. We have great grid tie laws in Arkansas. Full credit for any excess that goes onto the grid. I get $$ credit on my account monthly with monthly energy cost adjustment. This credit pays for my monthly service access fee and a bit more. I oversized...

HP laptop power supplies can be used for charger power sources. I put a more friendly cable end on them as the first step. They output about 19v DC. The cable has 3 conductors. The two outer layers are the power leads. The center is used for some signal between the computer and the power...

Just sharing some test information..... I have some 32700 cells and did a quick test on three different type/sourced cells. The test was not to prove capacity but to compare one type to the other for usable power, (without discharging too much). The data was collected using an iCharger x8 set...

This was built with Battery Hookup's 32x650 LiFePo4 100ah cell packs, 2P4S. Overkill Solar type 120amp BMS. 1500w pure sine wave inverter. Kil-o-watt meter showed 2.51kwh with discharge to 2.80v per cell cutoff.

I have been tinkering with an emergency battery/inverter system and part of the plan is to be able to charge from a generator if there is not much sunshine. If I could get enough charge in the battery to carry critical loads overnight, that would be great. I have a 24v battery and found you...

I am fairly new to the forum and have noticed on several threads people that might need a little help understanding what is referred to as “split phase”. In fact is it just simply that the secondary winding of the power transformer has a wire connected in the middle of the winding so that it...

It is common that someone wants to run an AC well pump off an inverter but the starting current is a problem. Often soft starters or variable speed starter/pump solutions will solve the problem. I stumbled across this video on Youtube and it has a lot of good basic lessons in addition to...

I have one of those solar (remote panel) motion security lights on my porch with a 5 cell Ni-Cad battery that has died for the second time. 5x1.25v would be in the range of 2x3.25v (LiFePo4) but you don't see 2 cell LiFePo4 BMS around. This system had a 11v open circuit solar panel on it and...

I found this box with cell holders on Ebay. I put some salvaged cells in it (about 2300mah ea). It tested 16.5ah. The third image shows my build (1170grams) beside a lead acid 7ah (2490 grams). More than twice the power and less than half the weight.

I have some old HP laptop power supplies that I like to use to power CC/CV charger boards. The rating on this type of power supply are commonly 120 watts up to 230 watts. I found a boost converter/charger that will take the 19volts from the power supply up to the voltage needed for a 24v...

It will serve you/anyone well to learn what specifications mean and how to apply them. It is also helpful to know when something might be incorrect or incomplete. What is wrong with this picture? (rhetorical)

Last weekend I traveled to my brother's hunting land where they have a couple of shacks. We installed one large panel on a ground mount, a box with battery, inverter, etc to provide lighting for our hunting trips.

I have built a portable 24v battery in addition to my home's emergency standby system. I have been thinking of different uses of the battery and the idea of using it for an electric coffee maker or a crock pot came to mind. So this afternoon I did a little low power cooking test. I found my...

21 Feb was my best production day so far and the panel angle is not ideal. My panels are fixed for best yearly production at 30 degrees from horizontal, or aimed at 60 degrees above the horizon. At noon the sun's angle of elevation is about 45 degrees off the horizon, making the panels 15...

Hi everyone, I am new to the forums. I have a 10kw ground mounted grid tie system (no storage) that has been in place 5 months and makes about 130% of what we need. So I am happy with that. I am starting to plan/build a standby storage and inverter system just in case we are without power...

I was trying to find a lower value resistor to drain down individual cells. I finally turned up this 0.8 Ohm Harbor Freight version in my garage.

I was just curious how this would work. 8s LiFePo4 and 7s Li-ion can operate as a single pack if you set proper BMS levels and keep your operation between the ditches. The only reason I can think of doing this would be to help with high surge current demands (100C Li-Ion for example) or in a...

This will make someone's eyes roll. :rolleyes: I have some extra panels and have decided to make some standby emergency power. Because I will not be charging my batteries daily, I am looking for a way to use some of the available power. It was easy to bring in the DC wires to my hot water...

I have a slow moving project that at some point I plan to have a standby power system with a split phase inverter with will run a 1/2 or 3/4 hp well pump. The argument for a low freq inverter in my case makes good sense. I like the idea of an inverter that I could repair. While surfing...

Not a lot of science here just an example. I have a 40a EPEver AN (1 of 3 chargers, 3 arrays) on my emergency house battery. I also have an EPEver AN 60a on the same array as the AN 40a. The 60a is for the golf cart. So what happens when the house battery needs charge and the golf cart is...

We have been pumping well water into a 1000 gallon sand filter and then from the sand filter to a pressure tank for many years. Since the sand filter has been in the mix, there is no need for high flow pumps, so we have replaced pumps with 1/2 hp 2 wire pumps over the past few years (more than...

There have been a couple (first second) of threads in the past year or so, asking about the need for tiny solar charger with no idle/dark consumption current. In both threads the poster asked/desired to charge with a tiny solar panel and no charge controller. Both cases had very low load or very...

I purchase some of those 24v LiFePo4 batteries from Battery Hookup as the start of a standby power project. I have to ramp up on the equipment I need to test, to balance, charge, etc to know exactly what I have and how they will preform. I am enjoy the electronic type work so messing with them...

Does anyone here know if you could take a JBD BMS (using the full Bluetooth app) and change an 8s LiFePo4 configured BMS to a 7s Li-ion BMS? It look like all the parameters are there and can be written to a file. A person could export from a Li-ion and import to a LiFePo4 (overwriting it) and...

$2000, Victron Energy, BAT512120610, LiFePO4 Battery 12, 8V/200Ah Smart needs external BMS!!! Victron site link. This is beyond crazy to me. A friend got one of these batteries (cheap). Now we discover it needs an external BMS. How nutty is that?

I purchased a couple of these 500w inverters to run 115v AC LED lights at a hunting shack. They are about as junky as you can get but look good for what I wanted. I tested them with some 3S 18650 packs and they, 1. don't have a stupid beeper for low voltage (nice) 2. shut off at 9.65 volts...

I am looking for cheap hardware to convert AC to DC and charge large batteries in a power out/cloudy day situation. This would be for emergency standby recharging if solar was not producing. The idea is run the generator during the day to get the battery up enough to carry critical demands...

I am planning a 18650 Li-ion based battery system for a hunting shack. My plan is to build a box with batteries, charger, and inverter, so it will need to be ventilated, not insulated. It will be used for lighting during the fall hunting season. Temperatures during hunting season will...

A little more than a year ago I built an 8x8 where two 4p8s groups were set top to top with insulation between. While this worked and was compact, it don't like the idea of depending on insulation between cell groups. Physical separation is more attractive. Getting an idea or two from some...

I purchased this for testing/learning when I started with solar a few years ago. It was connected for a few hours and then put back in the box. It is selling on Amazon for $90 new. I just want to get rid of it without throwing it in the trash. I would take $30, which should cover shipping...

I needed to get some panels up in a hurry for some charge testing that I have planned. I had some aluminum frame sections that someone had given me. They have a slot that a 5/16" carriage bolt will slide right in. So I laid them out on some concrete blocks and anchored them with some screw in...

Is anyone (here) familiar with the internal connections between the cells of this type of battery? I would be interested in cutting into the cover (if I could avoid open any cell) to convert a 12v into 2s 6v.

I have the need to put some power into a 36v golf cart battery at a remote location but not tie the cart to a solar charger during the daylight hours. I already have an investment in some 24v portable battery packs and emergency power boxes. I purchased a boost converter with CC/CV output. I...

What a pain to double verify on a Forum site. I tried to turn it off but no, you can't access the site without it being enabled. Pain over something that should be so easy.

I have some of those large 24v batteries from Battery Hookup. The cells are welded in. It looks like 2P8S, about 100ah cells. I started to bottom balance one of them and cell group 7 voltage went down first, meaning its capacity is less. I can’t take more power from the battery without that...

I salvaged some 18650 cells and wanted to weld up the packs, so I purchased one of these welders. The first one I purchased from Amazon and on 120v it would only weld the thinnest strips with the settings maxed out. Base on some of the videos of it in use, I am guessing the power transformer...

Will suggested this power supply as a charger in his Milk Crate build. The power supply instructions say don't connect to a load that will pull more than the rated current. I got the 20amp version with plans to connect it to a 200ah LiFePo4 battery. I have concerns the battery might be too much...

I am looking for ideas to heat a block/pile of concrete or metal mass with extra PV energy. So looking for some heater element ideas, other than for water. Total available watts, about 3000 at 135v open circuit. Several heaters in series or parallel would be okay.

It appears that Victron has some Windows software. Does anyone (here) know if it works with the Smart Shunt product? Thanks

I have done business with 18650ed on ebay before. 18650ed sells battery building supplies for cylinder type cells. I ordered from him and he didn't ship, didn't respond to refund request. Ebay did the refund but I wonder if anyone knows what happened to 18650ed. He seemed to be a pretty good...

Has anyone tested the cells in these packs? https://batteryhookup.com/products/hp-43-2v-module-with-24x-30a-lg-18650-cells?rfsn=1727885.2bd9ce

Can anyone suggest a good source for 3P 323650 nickel strips (reference example) that will fit the 32650 cell holder/spacers that Battery Hookup sells? Thanks in advance.

This trick might be old hat to some but I am sharing in case some less experienced need this information. So it might help someone in installation. While this might not be considered “solar”, while installing my system I had a trench that was filled with ground water and I needed to drain it...

I am building a battery power box and plan to use an inverter in the 1500w-2000w range. I have been happy with some Giandel models (24v 1200w and 12v 1500w) but in the 2000w size they are a bit more than what I want to spend. I want to keep a fairly low profile, so I can mount it on the bottom...

Do any of you have any experience with this pump? I am curious how well it works. Deep Well Submersible Pump Solar Water Pump DC 24V 370W Stainless Steel Pump Built-in MPPT Solar Water Circulating System, DC Brushless Motor, 8.8 GPM Max Flow, 2860 RPM Speed (DC 24V 370W) Thanks.

I am unsure if the SPF 3000TL LVM high frequency inverter, operating in UPS mode, is passing the grid power/voltage or if the inverter is actually ON and just using the grid to power the inverter input power needs. If anyone knows for sure, please share. Thanks in advance.

My luck...... Hello Dan， We were informed by the forwarder today that due to bad weather, lead to ship part of goods were blown into the sea, the ship are going to turn back now, Only after the return of the ship can we confirm whether your goods are safe, if after confirm the goods fell into...

I am getting a quote for 32650 LiFePo4 from Shenzhen Basen. The listing that I found said min qty 100, which is more than I need (for now). If anyone wanted some of them, I would consider splitting the lot for my cost plus the other person covered their own reshipment after I got them. USPS does...

I am involved in installing a Sol-Ark 15k and we are rewiring the service entrance so that the Sol-Ark 15k is the point of grid interconnect. The Load output will go to the main breaker panel for now. All I want to do is have the power company pull the meter, kill the transformer, I will...

I am planning a system (not mine) where the AC from the inverter exceeds the 120% rule and would require a main breaker de-rate if the solar produced AC was connected as a backfeed breaker in the main panel. The panel is older and of an uncommon brand, so not sure if I can get a de-rate main or...